Heh, first quick update in a looong time. In this chapter Sokka finally starts his Jedi training, and with Toph as his teacher! A lot of this chap will be devoted to an explanation of lightsaber combat, but with Toph doing the teaching you can bet it wont be boring lol.

Oh, quick reminder. These * * represent character thoughts. Also, I had to do the proofreading for this chapter myself, so you can a expect a fair some of gramatical errors _

Disclaimer: I dont own Avatar or Star Wars : P

Riddles and Reasons

Chapter 17

The Guardian

It had now been a little over a month since the groups' near fatal encounter with the Terentatek in the Shadow Lands, and one month since Katara promised to Sokka that she would finish where her friend had left off. As Katara expected her decision didn't go too well with the others. At first they were dumbstruck by Katara's sudden change of heart, but then they began to question her sanity as well. Katara had expected this from Aang and Zuko, but she was surprised that Toph was against it as well. In fact Toph didn't seem to like Katara's company so much anymore, and she never once visited Sokka in the infirmary.

In the end Aang and Zuko finally agreed to go along with it since they knew once Katara had her mind set on something that it was impossible to dissuade her. Besides, if you're not against her, you're with her. Toph on the other hand only grudgingly agreed to keep her mouth shut about it.

The first week after of the attack Sokka spent most of his time in healing sessions from Katara. He might have survived the Terentatek's claws, but he only held on by the skin of his teeth. The damage inflicted on his body was still very serious and even his slight healing abilities combined with Wookie medical ingenuity, bacta treatments, and Katara's healing powers could only do so much.

After that first week though, Katara had taken it upon herself to begin stimulating Sokka's latent Force abilities through the use of the same technique Yue had used on him before. Her success was moderate at best. Sokka had almost literally cut himself off from the Force and reawakening that connection was difficult to say the least. Nevertheless, Katara refused to turn her back on him and slowly, but surely, he was progressing.

After a week and a half's worth of intense meditation and extra healing sessions with the mercenary, Katara began to supplement his instruction with basic training exercises. Since Sokka was somewhat familiar with them, thanks to Yue, he caught on quickly. Still, he was somewhat lacking in efficiency.

For starters his telekinesis abilities needed a lot of work. He could move small objects like books or cups with a fair amount of concentration, but anything bigger would take a tremendous effort on his part. Moreover, he had a definite lacking in applying the Force to bolster his senses and physical abilities. What Katara found most surprising, however, was that Wolf had no idea how to apply his miraculous healing abilities to other living beings.

"I give up!" Katara said one afternoon as she fell into the chair next to Wolf's bed in the infirmary. "I can't understand how you can pull yourself out of death's grip so easily but not be able to mend a simple plant." She pointed at the potted fern that sat on Wolf's lap. It was a perfectly healthy specimen except for the fact that several of its leaves were slightly cut to give Wolf some practice at making them whole again.

"Well in my defense, I don't see myself saving ferns from a Sith weed hacker anytime in the future," Wolf retorted.

"That's not the point!" Katara continued. "This exercise was supposed to help serve as a foundation, a gateway if you will, for your other Force abilities, but you can't even fix a fern. It just doesn't make any sense." Katara sighed and went limp on the chair to further demonstrate her frustration.

"Look," Sokka replied softly as he put the plant on the shelf next to his bed, "it's not that you're a bad teacher…"

"WHAT?!" Katara glared at Wolf with eyes scary enough to make him almost fall out of bed.

"That's not what I meant!" He quickly tried to recover as he held his blanket a little tighter and higher than he normally did. "It's just that this is completely new to me, so of course I'm not going to get it right away."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked him in a voice that was much calmer than before, but with eyes that had a mix of suspicion and mostly uncertainness.

"Just that," Sokka responded. "I've only had practice healing myself, and even then it was with Yue as a guide."

"But you managed to speed up your body's regenerative rate and even managed to heal severe wounds by yourself. If you can do all that then surely you can perform at least some minor healing on others."

"You're probably right, but then again I probably won't. It's just not me." Sokka said as he shrugged.

"What? You're not making any sense; you'll jump out in front of a raging terentatek for someone but you won't lean how to learn to heal their wounds if the situation called for it."

"Yeah, pretty much," Sokka casually remarked as Katara looked at him in utter disbelief. Once Sokka noticed this he felt that he had better elaborate before she took it the wrong way. "I'm a soldier Katara, I live to fight. The exact reasons aren't always the same, but you better make sure I do it for the right ones. A lot of times I fight to protect others and when there's no one to protect I fight for myself. It's how I work."

Katara began to slowly understand what he was trying to tell her. "You mean you can heal yourself the way you do and not others because it's where your focus resides."

Sokka nodded. "If I can heal myself I can keep on fighting to protect others so they don't have to fight or worry about me." He chuckled a little, "to be honest it's more by instinct that I can heal myself; I've never put much thought into it, just feeling."

"Now I see why Yue thought you'd make a good Guardian," Katara smiled, "it wasn't because the role of the Guardian requires the least complex knowledge of the Force. It was because it's who you are."

"Yep," Sokka said in a smug voice, "has been for as long as I can remember. Ever since I lost my b…" Sokka stopped himself before he finished his last thought out loud.

"Lost your what?" Katara asked him inquisitively.

Sokka was at a loss for words. He had almost told her that he had been protecting those he considered friends like if they were family ever since he had lost his baby sister. "Uh…just someone I couldn't protect. Let's just leave it at that.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Katara sounded as sincere as the slight sadness that was reflected in her blue eyes.

There was a silence that passed between the two that like an eternity to Sokka. In his head he was silently pleading for a change in topic so Katara wouldn't bring up his baby sister again. He got his wish soon enough.

"Well then," Katara broke the silence, "there's only one thing to do now. I'm going to have to have Toph train you."

"What?!" Sokka yelled as he almost fell out of bed for the second time that morning. "Why Toph?!" In truth part of Sokka was a more than a little anxious to have an excuse to spend some time with the young Jedi, but the other part of him understood the hazards to his health. Especially since Toph had taken up a grudge against him for some unknown reason.

"Because she's the only Guardian in the group; she knows all the lightsaber forms and is frankly the most qualified to train someone like you. Besides," Katara looked at him suspiciously, "I thought you two would get along just fine, or did something happen?"

"Heh, you tell me," Sokka grunted as he rested the back of his head on his hands. "I think she's been avoiding me for some reason, but I haven't been able to talk to her at all. Heck, I don't know when I had the time to make her mad."

"Toph is mad at you?" Katara was obviously as surprised as he was. "I mean I knew she wasn't happy about training you as a Jedi, but I just thought that was because she didn't want it to be burden or danger to you."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me that when we started these sessions?"

"Because I thought she'd get around it eventually and because I thought YOU wanted to become a Jedi."

Sokka fell back on his pillow and looked aimlessly at the ceiling. "I do, but I don't think it's going to happen if the one Jedi amongst you guys who should be the one to train me won't do it."

"Leave that to me," Katara beamed. "I'll get her to come around. You just worry about yourself when she does."

With that Katara got up and left the infirmary, leaving Sokka to contemplate just how much more dangerous his damn mission had become.

Amongst the stars there were countless planets that were barren, uninhabited and perfect locations for those that did not want to be found. This particular planet, however, was selected for many reasons that included its obscure location in Republic space, the fact that the whole planet was presumed to be nothing more than a graveyard, and the sentimental reason that it had been the birth place of the Forsaken.

Hidden by the ruins of what once was a once glorious metropolis there was a vast and impressive black fortress that resembled a multilayered, black pyramid. Undetectable by any kind of scanners the fortress was a perfect metaphor for the dual nature of the Forsaken; covert and imposing. The stronghold, or Sanctuary, as it had been named by its inhabitants was divided into five levels. The first and largest of the levels was the base of the structure that also served as a hanger for the many vehicles and war machines that the Forsaken used. Next was the second level where the Forsaken soldiers would train for combat and also store their weapons and armament. The third level was the living quarters that housed the hundreds of men and women that had sworn their lives to a greater cause. Up next was the fourth floor. This area was devoted to the storage and collection of data both military and otherwise. Finally the fifth floor and point of the pyramid served as the private quarters and command post for the three Forsaken leaders. Among the Forsaken they were the only ones who had enough command of the Force to be on par with any Jedi or Sith in terms of Force abilities.

As Tracinya made her way through the black metal halls in the second level she was acknowledged by the black armored guards. The suits of armor they wore were not that dissimilar to the suits of your average Sith Trooper. They were streamlined and the armor plating was segmented for maximum flexibility. What was different about their armor, however, was that it was as dark as the deeds there wearers had committed. Moreover, the armor plating was far more extensive and protected more of their bodies than the armor of the average, expendable Sith trooper. The most distinctive feature of the armor worn by the Forsaken soldiers, however, was the face mask. It had a simple mouth guard similar to those of samurai and three fins on the helm that gave it a menacing look.

The guards recognized Trancinya with nothing more than a silent, reverent nod. There was no need for words amongst themselves unless it was necessary; back in the war it was a code of silence they all followed to ensure maximum efficiency and secrecy. Some habits just never went away. Besides, they knew each other well enough not to waste time on needless conversation when so much still needed to be done to ensure their mission would come to fruition.

The long hallway finally ended at a huge obsidian blast door. Behind it Tracinya could hear the crack and sizzle of lightsabers in combat. She pushed several buttons on the door's control panel and it slid open to reveal her brother, Kandosi, surrounded by at least a dozen sliced and charred training droids. He had his back to her and there were only slight traces of sweat on his muscular yet modest frame. Tracinya knew that he was practicing that technique again.

"So the threat has been eliminated then?" Kandosi asked her, although his offhanded tone of voice alerted her to the fact that he already knew or at least suspected that she had not completed the mission."

"No brother," she answered him.

"Then it must have been for a profoundly good reason. Am I right?" He turned and faced her. If he was angry or displeased in any way he hid it very well. There was a vicious scar that ran vertically from the bottom right side of his chest to his top left side.

"Brother…it was HIM."

There was no need for Tracinya to speak the mercenary's name. Kandosi had been expecting this somehow, but even so his once collected demeanor had been broken. He turned away as if the simple mention of that man was one of the foulest curses he could have heard. It was clear he was having difficulty restraining himself.

He slashed the air with his right hand as if he were striking an invisible enemy and it sent the wreckage around him flying in all directions. Several pieces of debris ricocheted off of the walls back at him but he just knocked him aside with his bear fists, grateful for the opportunity to relive some stress as he angrily walked up to his sister. For a brief moment it looked like he was about to strangle her, but instead he let his hands fall from her throat to her shoulders.

Kandosi was looking down at the floor although his hands were still on his sister's shoulders as he spoke to her. "I knew it from the moment we felt the disturbance in the Force. I knew then that the traitorous bastard still drew breath." He looked up and into her eyes. "Now the question remains, why Revan spared the traitor's life?"

"Perhaps it was all part of the plan," a placid voice spoke from the entrance behind them. They both turned to see their brother Nynir. As he walked up to them his imposing height and physique became more obvious in comparison to his two siblings. What was even more daunting was his strong yet elegant voice. For one who rarely spoke Nynir most definitely had a senator's gift of speech.

"Revan was always a shrewd tactician. He may have foreseen certain obstacle in our path that may have required a more subtle method of being overcome."

"What are you implying?" Kandosi asked sternly. "That his betrayal was orchestrated so that he could later be implanted as a spy?!" He let the malice in his voice sink in before he continued. "No. I was there when he turned. It wasn't a ploy, it was a simple choice! He chose to betray us!"

"You're letting your emotions cloud your judgment brother." Nynir calmly stated. "Think of what we know. It was Revan who personally finished him off; the Master would not have been so foolish as to allow him to still draw breath if he was meant to die. Additionally, you yourself admit that his betrayal was so utterly random and unexpected that even you could not understand why he did it.

Kandosi looked away from his siblings to one of the bare training room walls in frustration. He had to concede that Nynir was right. Sokka's traitorous act was utterly unexplainable, and it was true that only those Revan did not want to kill ever managed to survive a battle with him.

"Say you are right Nynir, then for what possible reason could he possibly have been spared? What possible use could he be to us or Revan now?"

"That I cannot answer brother, but I do know that it would be foolish to kill him without first finding that out; lest we undo all that we have accomplished."

After a long silence Kandosi agreed. "Very well, but we cannot leave him to his own devices, he must be watched at all times," A slight grin passed over Kandosi's face, "and as it happens we have just the agent for the job."

One week after their discussion, Katara made good on her promise to convince Toph to train Sokka. She didn't discuss the details with him, but somehow he got the impression that some form of blackmail was probably involved. The good news was that the week off gave Sokka enough time to recover from his wounds, or at least enough to walk around on his own energy. He wasn't at a hundred percent, but he was well enough to duel.

Now he was standing in an open platform in Rwookrrorro. It was midday and he was starting to get frustrated waiting for his instructor who was supposed to have met him six hours ago. Sokka was at least grateful that word of his lessons hadn't spread; he would've hated an audience during training.

Finally Toph showed up her usual green and tan getup and had a leather satchel in her right hand. She was yawning quite loudly as she walked. Her slightly bedraggled hair that had been forced into a bun was enough to tell him that she had just woken up.

"Afternoon," Sokka welcomed her, albeit in a foul tone. "Forget about my lessons?"

"Nah," Toph calmly replied as she began stretching her arms over her head, "I just hate waking up early if I don't have to."

"What?! Then why'd you make me wait here for six hours!?"

"Simple," Toph responded in a casual, but at the same time serious, tone, "you need to learn patience."

Sokka's jaw fell wide open and his arms dropped. He actually resembled some sort of monkey as far as the gesture went. Toph couldn't see him per se, but she could definitely feel his reaction. This brought her signature grin to her face.

"P-patience? Are you freaking kidding me?! You just did it for fun! You probably only took the job to make me miserable didn't you?!" Of course Sokka was mostly right, but that didn't mean Toph had to like his attitude.

Toph's grin instantly disappeared and was replaced by a foul looking grimace. She brought her left hand up and then slammed it down hard. This threw Sokka from his standing position straight to the floor like if gravity had just decided that it didn't quite like him anymore. Moments later Toph was looking down at him with a rough look on her face that would've made him cringe if he wasn't more concerned with the pain of landing on his healing wounds.

"Listen up Mutt!"

"Mutt?" Sokka asked confounded by his new nickname as he stood back up. This of course earned him another trip to the floor.

"That's right!" Toph shouted at him. Had she been wearing a uniform Sokka would've of thought she was his old drill sergeant. "As of right now you're nothing more than a mangy dog! A dog that needs to learn a few lessons! First off, you are going to address me as nothing less than Sifu! You got that!?"

"Y-yes To-I mean Sifu." Sokka stammered wanting to avoid any more disciplinary actions for the moment.

"Good. For that the doggy gets a treat," Toph debased him as she handed him his 'treat' and patted him on the head as he was getting back up.

Sokka took it glumly as sour thoughts raced through his mind and showed on his face. *Doggy? I've been reduced to K9 status. Geeze, what the hell did I get myself into?* It took him a while to realize that his 'treat' was actually a lightsaber, not unlike the practice one he had when he trained with Yue. He turned it on and it hummed gently as the yellow blade ignited the air.

Flourishing it slightly he could tell that it was hastily constructed and although balanced and sufficiently focused, it was far from optimal. It felt, wrong. Sort of like having someone else's arm grafted on top of his own.

"This doesn't feel right…" he blurted out without realizing it. For a moment he thought he'd be kissing the floor again, but he didn't. In fact Toph was actually grinning at him.

"Good," she said, "If it didn't feel wrong to you then I know you would've been a lost cause."

Sokka looked at her with comprehension written all over his features. "You were testing me," he stated.

"Yep, I wanted to see how familiar you were with a lightsaber. You see most newbs are so awed by a lightsaber the first time they hold one that they think it's already perfectly balanced, focused, and ready to go. Granted we do fix it up enough so it doesn't blow up on them, but that's just about it. The fact that it felt 'off' for you tells me that you're familiar enough with one to skip the kiddy basics and move right into the forms." She handed him a new lightsaber from the satchel. This time when he turned it on the blade was a steady blue. Again he flourished it and found that this blade was definitely of better quality. It had near perfect balance and the focusing wasn't too far off either. It still felt a bit odd to him, but he was comfortable enough not to mention it this time around.

"I guess this will do," Sokka smiled.

"Glad you like it Mutt," Toph's rough tone had reemerged. "Now quit fooling around and fall in! We've got work to do!"

In the days that followed, Toph showed Sokka the basic postures and sequences of all seven lightsaber forms: Shii-Cho, Makashi, Soresu, Ataru, Shien and Djem So, Niman, and Juyo. These sequences existed to alleviate the mental strain of making up an attack or countering one in the heat of battle.

Sokka remembered well enough from his battle with Zhao that lightsaber duels were viciously fast. There was no time to think of an attack when your adversary used the Force to bolster his speed and reflexes. In fact, battles between practitioners of lightsaber combat were fought on instinct alone. In this way the participants became more than combatants, they became an extension of the Force. For this reason sequences and drills were created and learned for all seven lightsaber forms. If one knew the sequences by heart he could use them instinctively in battle and use complex attacks and defenses on the whim. A master could flawlessly combine and connect sequences from different forms to perform some truly awesome battle combinations, but for now Sokka was content to merely learn a handful.

Thanks to Yue, Sokka was already familiar with the basics of lightsaber combat, but he soon found out that this wasn't nearly enough to please his new sifu. Even with the basics Toph could always find the slightest flaw in his form.

"No you're doing it all wrong Mutt! You're gripping the saber too hard! Now you're gripping it too lightly!"

Once she even corrected the angle at which he was holding the blade even though it was only off by a fraction of a millimeter! Sokka was surprised at how a blind girl, even a Jedi, could have detected such a small flaw. However, he made the fatal mistake about commenting about it out loud.

"What did you say!?!" Toph snarled at Sokka.

"Nothing! Nothing at all Sifu!" Sokka said as he instinctively took a defensive stance. Ironically, the fact that Sokka unconsciously took the stance seemed to please Toph enough for her to forgo another set of 'disciplinary' actions. Still, it was not enough to dissuade a stern lecture.

"Well at least you're getting the hand of the basics," she mentioned firmly, "but quit being stupid!"

"Uh?" was all Sokka managed to say.

Toph shook her head in silent frustration. "I thought you were a sword fighter Mutt. Even the smallest error in form can leave an opening wide enough for your opponent to bring you down. For example, you were off a bit in the way you held your saber. It may have only been a fraction of an angle, but that small fraction ruins your base form and it transfers the flaw to all your attacks and defensive stances. Simply put it projects to everything you do! That's the quickest way to end up dead Mutt!"

Sokka didn't say anything but he understood perfectly. Toph was right on the money. If he had continued training with a flawed form it really would've ruined everything else.

"I understand Sifu." Sokka finally replied.

"Good! Now quit lollygagging and fix it!"

Just as Toph ordered, Sokka spent the better part of the next two hours redoing all his drills with a fixed angle. Until his form was satisfactory to both him and his Sifu.

The days soon turned to weeks, but the daily routine wasn't much different. Defensive postures, overhand strikes, parries, and counter strikes were all repeated and repeated to the point where they were once again as familiar to him as when he trained with Yue, and even then he found himself improving beyond that. He had to admit that he was never as fluent with a lightsaber when Yue trained him as he was now that Toph was training him. More importantly, he began to feel the Force growing in him even more so than in Katara's meditation sessions. Of course he could only feel it in him the way one hears a voice carried by the wind, but there was no doubt that he was progressing at a considerably faster rate than before.

Soon he was able to draw on the Force to enhance his physical attributes of his own accord once again. He could easily run Toph's daily requirement of 5 kilometers at full speed without even breathing hard. His reflexes were sharper than ever and he could now even anticipate an opponent's attacks like he once could.

"Okay, it looks like you have the forms mostly down Mutt," Toph 'complimented' him, "of course there is still room for improvement. For now, though, we're moving on."

"Yes Sifu," Sokka acknowledged Toph. He understood that despite all her harshness, Toph was an excellent teacher and so he withstood her verbal, and physical, abuse. More than that, he was learning to respect her on a whole other level. Sokka had met more than his fair chair of tough, crazy women in his travels, but Toph was definitely at the top of his list.

"Listen up Mutt, now we're going to learn the marks of contact."

Sokka didn't say anything. Yue had taught him all about the marks of contact, or the target objectives that were meant to help focus one's offense and defense in battle. Basically, they were the areas of the body where one was supposed to strike an opponent and protect oneself.

"I'm assuming you are at least familiar with these?" Toph asked him as she paced back and forth in front of him with her arms at her back in a very professional manner.

"Yes Sifu," he acknowledged again.

"Good." Toph responded without losing the edge in her voice. "So if I were to ask you what Sun djem is you would say what?"

"Sun djem, it means to disarm and it refers to targeting your enemy's weapon to effectively end the battle."

"Good." Toph once again responded.

Sokka, however, didn't finish there. "However, this mark of contact is effectively obsolete against someone who specializes in Makashi and is a waste of effort."

This actually earned a smirk from Toph. "So it looks like you're above chasing your own tale Mutt. You're right. Anyone who uses Makashi specializes in protecting their lightsaber from damage or from being disarmed."

"Next," Toph continued, "what can you tell me about Shiim?"

The mercenary didn't waste anytime answering. "Shiim, this refers to wounding your opponent with the edge of your blade. It's nothing more than a glancing blow, but it's a good way to dishearten lesser opponents into submission." Toph didn't say anything and instead just waited for him to continue like she knew he would. "Shiim is all but useless against a serious opponent though. Small wounds wouldn't be nearly enough to dissuade a Sith or professional soldier from losing interest in a fight if they truly intend to kill you."

Again Toph seemed pleased with his explanation and nodded in approval. "Correct. Shiim is to be used only when the difference between you and your opponent is so great that they posses no threat even though they still wish to fight. I can tell you first hand, however, that a fully trained Sith will not yield to simple scratches."

At hearing this Sokka couldn't hold back his curiosity. "How many Sith have you fought?" What he was really asking her was for some way to measure her skill.

Toph seemed to be expecting this since there was no change in her complexion or her voice. "Not that many, I think it's somewhere around thirty-three or so."

"Thirty-three?! That's, that's…" Again Sokka couldn't hide that he was impressed. Jedi didn't usually seek out combat, although it wouldn't have surprised him if Toph was an exception. This either meant that she was intentionally targeted by Sith or that she was specifically assigned to deal with them. Whatever the case was it was obvious that she was a truly gifted swordswoman.

"Yeah, yeah, big deal I'm awesome. So what?" Despite her seemingly casual tone Sokka could see the tiniest hint of blush creeping up her cheeks. "Moving on now; what can you tell me about Shiak?"

"Shiak, quite simply it means 'stabbing." Sokka answered without hesitation. "Since it causes the least visible of injuries it is regarded as the most honorable of the marks of contact and the most honorable way to defeat or kill your opponent, as the situation calls."

"Alright, now what about Cho mai?" Toph continued her verbal test.

"Cho mai, it means to cut off your opponent's weapon hand and is a preferred combat move of Jedi since it can effectively eliminate the threat almost any enemy posses without killing them. Nevertheless, it is one of the hardest of all the marks of contact. Its precision is the mark of a true lightsaber master."

"Not bad Mutt, but now what about Cho sun?"

"Cho sun, it means to dismember. As the definition implies it means you aim to cut off your opponent's entire weapon arm. Although not as proficient as Cho mai it is more often used against Force sensitive opponents since it is the easiest way to defeat an opponent without killing them."

"Mhmm, now tell me about Cho mok."

"Cho mok, it means to maim. Basically you aim to cut off your opponent's limbs. It's more aggressive than Cho sun, but still effective in neutralizing your opponent under dire conditions."

"Alright, but what about Sai Chu?" This time Toph seemed to be paying closer attention to how Sokka answered.

"Sai Chu, it literally means 'separate, head,' or rather to decapitate your opponent. It's only used in the most extreme of circumstances and is more often than not employed mainly by Sith since it's border line sadistic."

Toph seemed to be reading him for a while before she finally asked him for the final mark of contact. "Finally, what is Sai tok?"

"Sai tok, it literally means… 'to cut body in half.' There was a pause before Sokka continued. "This almost explicitly a Sith mark of contact since it is butchery. I've never actually heard of a Jedi using it in combat."

What happened next was completely unexpected and unnerving. "Have you ever used it?" Toph asked him.

Up until then Sokka had been looking directly ahead of him like a soldier at attention, but this forced him to look at her. She was calm, collected and if she had meant it as a joke of sorts it certainly didn't show. He understood that it was another test of hers.

Sokka faced forward once again and answered honestly, "yes."

Toph didn't say anything but merely turned away from him and continued her pace in front of him as if she was rethinking the situation.

"And not only Sai tok, but Sai chu and Cho mok as well, and not always in self preservation." He wasn't sure why, but he felt that he owed her nothing the truth no matter how vile it made him seem. A part of why he did was based on the fact that he respected her as both a teacher and a friend, but even he couldn't deny that there was more to it than that.

"I figured as much." She simply responded.

"Katara told you what I did on Vjun right?" He asked her, although he was certain of what her answer would be.

"Yeah, but she didn't go into the details."

"I'll understand if you don't want to keep on training me." Sokka reluctantly spoke as he looked down to the floor and away from her.

"What?!" Toph turned to face him on the spot. She didn't sound as surprised as she did angry. "You think you're getting out of training that easily Mutt, or are you fishing for sympathy?! Drop down and give me fifty, NOW!!!"

Sokka nearly stumbled as he dropped down to begin the set. He had to admit that this was not the kind of response he expected. Toph came up beside him and put a foot on his back as she got down close enough to yell in his ear.

"Listen up pansy! You think you're the first one of us to get swept up a fit of rage?!"

"It was more than that!" Sokka jumped to his feet. "I butchered those men, and I enjoyed it like some kind of monster! I…"

"Yeah you got a taste for blood, I know it all to well and so do Zuko, and now Aang!" Toph answered him with just as much strength in her words. "What you think you're special?!" Toph continued as she noticed the surprise in Sokka's face. "Every one of us here has done things that they wish they could take back! Things that nearly pushed us over the edge! But you know what, we got over it! We learned from our mistakes and vowed for our sakes as well as those dear to us that we wouldn't make them again! Now shut up and get back on the ground, the count just went up to one hundred Mutt!"

For a moment Sokka stood there like an child that had just been corrected by his parents. He was right to feel doubt and perhaps even fear about what he had done on Vjun, but Toph was even more right. It was stupid of him to think of himself as special in almost losing himself to the darkness, especially considering the fact that the same thing almost happened to Aang on Dantooine.

Despite that fact that Sokka felt ashamed he decided to simply do as his sifu instructed him and began with his hundred pushups. He had said too much already, and he wasn't too keen on taking on anymore of Toph's disciplinary measures. Besides, he was more than sure that Toph had picked up on how he felt; she had a knack for it after all.

About halfway through his set Sokka decided on asking the question that had been burning in his mind ever since Toph's stern lecture. "So, how was it for you?" He half expected her to just ignore him, or at the very least add another fifty pushups, but he was glad and just a little surprised that she only took a few seconds to think it over and answer him.

"Scary…" A silence passed between them where Sokka had stopped his pushups to listen to her in earnest. "It wasn't like those times when I was doing something bad and that little voice inside my head told me not to do it. Heh, the Force knows I've had too many those moments to count." She laughed lightly before her face became sad. "There was no voice. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I wanted to do it. It felt right, it felt good…"

There was another pause in which Sokka took the risk to ask her another question. "What was it that almost drove you to that edge? For me it was losing someone I loved. Was it the same for you?"

Toph looked away with a grief in her eyes so strong that it made Sokka want to close his own eyes to avoid it. She was about to speak again but it looked like she was having trouble bringing the words to her mouth. Sokka was about to tell her to forget the whole thing, but right as he opened his mouth to speak she regained her voice. "I was sixteen, the Jedi Civil war was reaching its pinnacle, but not before Malak annihilated everyone on Taris. I lost so much that day."

Sokka felt like he should say something, but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't come out as a pitiful attempt to understand her pain. True knew what it was like to lose family, friends, and loved ones, but it didn't feel right to mention it at the time.

"The pain of so many deaths could be felt across the galaxy by all Jedi; it was like Malak had ripped part of our spirit out from our chests if only for an instant." Toph turned her back to Sokka as she continued. "I didn't know it right away, but I soon found out that the genocide had happened on Taris, my home planet." There was another long silence. "I-I hated that place. I hated the rich nobles who didn't give a rat's ass about the people suffering beneath there city, and I hated the gangs that maid the lives of the people worse than they already where. I even hated my parents; the people who never let me be true to myself."

She sighed and looked up as if recollecting a more pleasant memory. "But it wasn't all bad. I had friends there. Real, true, honest friends who didn't care that I was a bratty noble and who treated me like a real part of their family."

"Taris was where I had the worst part of my life, but it was also where I had the best part of it. It was home. After I found out what happened I went berserk. I went after any Sith I could find with only one purpose, to kill them. I didn't care that it was wrong, it felt so right. It didn't take long to find a small group of soldiers and even a few Sith apprentices to take out my pain. I didn't kill them right away, no. I wanted to make them suffer. Soon I had them begging for a quick death, but I had no intention of letting them off easy."

Sokka had been taking everything she had told him with silent reverence. He knew exactly how that felt so he couldn't blame her for what she did and he didn't want to. Instead he asked her a simple question. "What brought you back?"

"He did," was all Toph said. Sokka knew who she was talking about; her best friend from Taris, the other Sokka.

"My best friend stopped me. I was ready to throw away all I had accomplished as a Jedi right then and there, but I heard his voice. Even from beyond the grave he was still there for me when I needed him most." There was a slight sniffle in her voice that revealed that she was fighting back tears. "I could almost feel him holding back my lightsabers, forcing me to stop. It was all it took to make me realize what I had almost done. I realized then that I wouldn't have only given up on myself; I would have given up on him."

Toph could feel Sokka was a bit confused about the last bit she had told him. "You see, before I left Taris we shared a dream of becoming Jedi. He couldn't make it out of Taris like me, at least not then, but even when I left he never gave up on that dream. More than that he never gave up on the idea of us meeting again as Jedi," she paused again. "He had so much faith in me, and I knew he truly believed it in his heart that I would become a great Jedi. But what had I done? I nearly threw it all away for revenge. I had disgraced his memory to satisfy my hate. I can tell you that I never felt more ashamed of myself than I did that day."

There was another slight sob. "If it hadn't been for him I probably would've lost myself that day."

Sokka slowly got up and walked towards Toph, who still had her back to him. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but hesitated and pulled it back twice before he finally let it rest on her. "Toph, I know exactly how you feel. It was the same for me when Yue died so believe me when I say this. He would never be ashamed of you. When Yue stopped me from losing myself there wasn't disappointment in her voice, there was only love and concern. Even after she was gone I could sense that she never blamed for what I had done…or what I couldn't do. That's how I know he still believes in you."

Even though Toph really didn't need to hear it, it felt good to hear that truth. She felt refreshed and peaceful like she hadn't felt in a long while. Despite the fact that she believed that Sokka cared for Katara more than her, she couldn't escape the wonderful feeling she had when he was around her. In truth it had been the main reason she decided to help re-teach him. Nevertheless, she wasn't quite over the fact and she had a reputation to uphold so she quickly knocked his hand a way and turned to face him.

"Alright Mutt! You had you story! Now it's time to get back to work! Drop down and give me those three hundred pushups, NOW!"

Just like that Toph was back to drill instructor mode. Sokka was left dumbfounded once again. *For the love of… What the hell is this girl's problem?! Is she bipolar or something? Hmm, actually that would explain a lot.*

In any case, Sokka quickly got down and started on his newly increased set of pushups. Toph came up close to him. It looked like she was getting ready to plant her foot back on his back, but then she did something completely unexpected again. She said two words in a voice slightly lower than a whisper.

"Thank you."

Sokka had to fight back the urge to not look up at her or stop with his pushups. *Yep, definitely bipolar." He thought with a smile.

The Next Day:

"Alright Mutt, fun time's over! Now we get serious!" Toph yelled at him as they began their training the next morning.

"Okaaaay, where was I for fun time?" Sokka commented out loud.

"Shut up and fall in Mutt!" Toph scolded him.

As ordered Sokka immediately went as silent as the grave and stood up in straight attention.

"Good, now listen up!" Toph said as she paced back in forth in front of Sokka. "Up until now you've had it easy but now you're going to have to prove that you're worth my time for real!" Toph turned to face him and pulled out her own lightsabers and ignited their teal beams. "Come at me and don't hold back! If you do you'll have Katara reattaching your arm tonight!"

Sokka went pale. He knew she wasn't kidding, but he was certain that even if he gave it his all he'd probably still end up dismembered on some level.

"What are you waiting for Mutt!" Toph berated him. "If you don't come for me then I'll do it!" And just like that she charged at him with a direct thrust of her right lightsaber.

Sokka's instincts kicked in. He switched on his own blue practice lightsaber and took the defensive stance of Form III Soresu. His saber came up centered and barely intercepted Toph's lightsaber. The impact of her lightsaber was much stronger that Sokka had anticipated he was knocked back a few feet, although he still maintained his balance.

Toph still had her saber sticking out in thrust pose as she 'looked' at him. "That was a warning shot Mutt. The next one won't be nearly as soft."

"That was soft?!" Sokka sputtered as he hastily solidified his stance in anticipation for Toph's next attack. He didn't have to wait long.

From her thrust position Toph launched herself at Sokka. She opened up with a vicious flourish that his eyes could barely register. Fortunately she had trained him well and he reacted with a tight, defensive flourish of his own. If Sokka had relied on his eyesight to prepare a counter for the attack he would've been killed for sure. He was relying solely on his instincts and the sequences that had been drilled into his subconscious by the past month of re-training.

There lightsaber's hummed and crackled as they collided, and all the while Sokka was straining to keep up with his Sifu. It seemed that every one of her strikes was an opener to the next one. Every time he blocked one of her sabers he left himself open to the other. He could match her speed well enough to barely deflect and parry, but he couldn't match the power of her strikes. Moreover, Sokka couldn't mount a single offense move. Toph was relentless and if this kept up much longer Toph would simply beat Sokka down into submission.

Sokka new it was risky, but he was a goner anyways if he didn't do something soon. He had to wait for the right moment, timing was critical. Additionally, he had to make sure that it was the right kind of attack she used against him or he really would be sporting a prosthetic limb by the end of the day.

As Toph's left saber came up in an ascending diagonal slash Sokka pushed forward into the blade. At the very last possible second he brought his right arm up and blocked it with his dark bracer. The special alloy cracked, but it held true. Then Sokka used his own saber that he was holding in his left hand and thrust it into her right one. The blade intercepted the descending slash from Toph's other saber perfectly.

Toph was momentarily pinned. Her flourish was broken. Sokka pressed his advantage and used all the strength he could muster to push her back; not exactly stylish, but effective. He figured he'd have about a fraction of a second to start his offensive so he wasted no time and focused the Force to increase his speed and agility and attacked using Form IV, Ataru.

Sokka was a blur of blue and black. He pressed his attacks on Toph from above, from the sides, from behind and from in front. Unfortunately, for him, Toph was a master of Soresu and all his attacks were nullified as easily as if he were child trying to hit an adult with a balloon sword. Her blades met every one of Sokka's as if they were drawn to them like a magnet. Not only that but she was also able to slash at him while keeping up her defense, and these weren't wild attacks either.

One of Toph's teal blades singed Sokkas shoulder. It burned like nothing he had ever felt before and it nearly made him lose his grip on his saber. *I can't believe this!* Sokka thought to himself. *She's using Soresu, but that's almost exclusively a defensive form. How can she use attacks that are so accurate while in that form?*

Even while these thought raced through his mind he never let up his attack. Nonetheless, he knew this would end up about the same as when she had the offensive. This was confirmed as Toph blocked another of his attacks and then landed a kick square in Sokka's chest. He flew into the railing behind him and almost fell off the platform they were fighting on.

With the air knocked out of him Sokka waited for her to finish the fight, but she never came. When he looked up he saw that she was just waiting for him to stand up. Her blades hadn't dropped from her tight Soresu form, but it was like she was daring him to come at her again.

Reanalyzing the situation Sokka soon realized that there wasn't any offensive that he could initiate that Toph couldn't repel. He was confident that Ataru would be enough to at least hold her back like it did when he fought Zhao, but that didn't work out and Sokka new why. Obviously Toph had mastered Soresu and that made her impervious to any kind of conventional attacks. This meant that using Makashi or Djem So would get him no where.

*Hmm,* Sokka thought to himself, *I can't break through her defense with any straight foward attacks. So how can I...?* Suddenly Sokka was struck by inspiration. *That's it! There is one thing I can do. Yue always said it was dangerous to use it, but I guess I have no choice.*Sokka centered his saber, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

*Geeze, this is getting boring.* Toph thought to herself. *If he thinks a Sith is going to give him this much time to get ready he's in for one hell of a short fight.* She then noticed that Sokka was making his move. He came right at her with a high swing, but his speed didn't match the swiftness he employed when using Ataru. *Pssh, a direct attack Sokka? Really, he could at least use…*

Toph didn't get to finish her attack before his blade was thrust at her and singed a few of her hairs. *What the hell was that?! He wasn't set up for a thrust!* The attack had caught her off guard, but she recovered quickly.

Sokka came at her again with a vertical, descending slash. This was easily countered by Toph with her own ascending, right hand strike. It knocked Sokka's blade up and left his chest exposed. Toph saw the opening and decided to teach him a lesson about exposing himself with a nonfatal jab of her free left saber, but it didn't go quite like she had planned. Sokka quickly crouched down, pulled his saber in close to his chest, and then thrust it with the speed of a vapaad beast. Toph never got to complete her own thrust and was instead forced to defend her own center that she had now unknowingly exposed.

The assault didn't end there. Sokka saw that his opponent had lost her balance and he continued with a series of swift fluent thrusts that forced Toph to abandon all offense and focus strictly on her defense.

Sokka's attacks still weren't as potent as Toph's, but she couldn't counter them as capably as she once had. The fact of the matter was that she couldn't read Sokka anymore. Before Sokka's movements may have been fast but they were predictable. Even with the speed of Ataru Toph could foresee where his attacks would come from and then find a way to counteract them. It was all in his form. Now, however, his attacks seemed random and disconnected from one another. He'd start off a sequence of stabs and thrusts only to disengage and reconnect with a flurry of slashes and all in midstream. Conversely, a simple thrust would become a blinding fast flurry. He'd pivot on the heel of his left food as if to add momentum to a coming slash or thrust but then he'd crouch or somersault over her to change the angle of his attack. If there was any sort of rhythm to his attack then Toph sure as hell couldn't detect it.

Soon enough Toph understood what was happening. *He's using Juyo!* She thought to herself. Juyo was the most difficult and dangerous of all the seven lightsaber forms. It emphasizes using bold direct movements, mostly thrusts and stabs, in a staccato sequence of attack. The fact of the matter, however, was by no means easy to predict and the attacks didn't connect in any foreseeable way.

What made this form so powerful and dangerous was that it was inherently aggressive and could more often than not tempt its user to use the Dark side. On the outside a practitioner of Juyo may seem calm, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Internally there was a great conflict of bursting emotions and the thrill of battle that all added strength to the user. It was as close as any Jedi could ever get to actually enjoying the excitement of the fight.

The only way to master Juyo, however, was to have an absolute mastery of all the six other forms, something Sokka was lacking in. Sure he knew several sequences for all the forms, but his knowledge was still limited and so was his Form VII. Toph had to give him credit though; he actually forced out of the offensive and almost, nearly landed a scratch on her. Now it was time to end it.

As Sokka was preparing another set of attacks Toph left her defensive stance and came at him with her full strength. Sokka had figured Toph was holding something back, but he never imagined just how badly she was toying with him. Her average speed almost matched his max speed with Ataru and each attack was even stronger than before. What's more, she was now using an entirely new set of sequences that he had never seen before and couldn't defend against, or at least not at the speed she was attacking him with.

For a few seconds Sokka's mind went helplessly blank as her two lightsabers, which could've have actually have been six or eight, purposely missed him by a mere centimeter from each and every conceivable angle. He couldn't even raise his saber anymore without her cutting his arm off; he was helpless.

Toph suddenly broke off her attack, slid back a few meters, and then hit Sokka with a powerful push of the Force. His invisible barrier was up, but it didn't stop him from getting the wind knocked out of him or from skidding across the floor of the platform until his head was resting in nothing but open air. He quickly sat up and almost rammed his face into Toph's right saber. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this fight was over.

"Not bad Mutt. You almost scored hit on me," she grinned, "and here I was thinking you'd probably end up only hurting yourself."

Sokka gave her a slight smile. "So, you were toying with me this whole time huh? Guess I should've seen that coming."

"Yes and no," Toph said as she deactivated her lightsaber and allowed Sokka to get back up. "I was testing you."

"You mean my skills?" Sokka asked her. "How'd I do then?"

"It wasn't you skills I was testing Mutt," Toph corrected him. "It was your tendencies."

"Er, what?" Sokka couldn't hide how confused he was, but then again there was no reason to.

"Well you see," Toph explained with a finger held up like if she was an academy teacher who was getting ready to give him a lecture, "everyone has certain tendencies when they fight that tell you who they are. It's sort of like calligraphy; you express more about yourself than you realize when you do either."

"So basically you were trying to figure me out through fighting?"

"Yep, but mostly I was trying to see which of the seven forms you corresponded to the most. That way I would know where you should put you focus on during the rest of your training."

Now Sokka understood exactly what had happened. She could've finished him off with her first pass at him if she had wanted too, but that wouldn't have helped him learn anything. Toph was just trying to get a feel for his combat style so she needed to give him time to subconsciously adjust to his preferences.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Sokka said as he scratched the back of his head. "So what's the verdict Sifu? What did you find out about me?"

Toph brought a hand up to her chin and another down to her hips as if she was seriously contemplating the results of her test. "Well, I could definitely see why Yue would think that you had a penchant for Ataru; you definitely have a talent with agility and speed, almost as much as Aang. However," she continued, "as a Jedi Guardian myself I'd say that you Juyo is more your speed."

"Juyo? But Yue told me never to use that except in emergencies."

"And with good reason," Toph continued for him. "Out of all the forms Juyo is the most demanding and dangerous for a Jedi to learn and very few in the Jedi Order actually use it. In fact, it's still considered 'underdevelopment' because no one has been able to fully master it yet."

Sokka was now utterly bewildered. "But then why…?"

"Because you have a definite affinity for it," Toph answered him abruptly. "There are Jedi Masters who can't pull off Juyo the way you just did, even if it was incomplete. And I'm not just talking about the sequences and transitions Mutt, it's your state of mind. Throughout the fight I could catch a glimpse of what you were feeling; you were actually enjoying yourself."

Despite himself Sokka couldn't keep from blushing as the thought to himself. *Well I have to admit it was a good fight, but that might also be because of whom I was fighting…OH SHIT!!! She said she could catch glimpses of what I was feeling! Okay, okay, think of something else!*

Toph felt his heart beat and body temperature rise slightly when she told him about the fact that he was really getting into the fight. Then a thought came to her and even her own cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "NOT THAT WAY YOU PERV!!! I meant that you enjoy the thrill of the fight but don't get caught up in it!"

"Oh, right," Sokka responded sheepishly. "Hey! What did you mean by perv?!" Sokka was suddenly getting very defensive.

"You know what I mean."

"No I don't."

For a while they just glared at each other, Sokka with his arms crossed and Toph with her hands on her hips.

"Ugh, whatever!" Toph said as she finally broke the silence. "The bottom line is that you can keep your emotions in check during a fight. Moreover, you seem to have a natural talent for the unexpected, and by that I MEAN that you're good at coming up with irregular patterns of attack."

"I like to keep my enemies guessing," Sokka smugly responded. "If I were to become predictable then I'd end up dead real fast."

"That's probably the only reason you lasted this long." Toph added with a slight grin.

"Thanks, er, I think." Sokka replied a bit ineptly. He was still trying to figure out if she was being honest or just sarcastic; knowing her like he did he figured it was probably the latter.

"Anyways, I think that's enough for now." Toph calmly stated.

"Enough what?"

"Enough lingering around here Mutt; we've spent too much time as it is and we still have to find those Star Maps to unlock that damn holocron. Besides," she shrugged, "there's nothing else that I can't teach you while we search, so we better get going."

"Oh, right," Sokka agreed. With all this re-training he was getting he had completely forgotten about the holocron Revan had left him. In truth, he was beginning to wonder why he even bothered with the thing in the first place. Everything seemed so right as it was, but then again, if he hadn't started looking for a way to unlock it then wouldn't have met Toph, Katara, and the others.

"Hey, earth to Sokka!" Toph snapped him out of his thoughts. "You still there Mutt?"

"Yeah," Sokka said as he came back to the present. "I was just thinking about why I ever bothered looking for a way to open the holocron. It all seems so irrelevant now."

Toph gave him an angry scowl. "IRRELEVANT?! That holocron may be full of secrets that could bring down the Sith or maybe even give them the power to finish what Revan started!" She marched up and poked him in the chest without losing any of her bravado. "This isn't just about you! And don't you forget it!"

The Jedi's words stung Sokka, even though he knew that they were true. The fact of the matter was that all of them, the Jedi and even Borabus, were only helping him to further their own agenda. Helping him find his answers was only a byproduct, and by extent maybe retraining him as a Jedi was too.

Sokka just dismally smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, I know."

Toph's face softened a bit and she crossed her arms over her chest as she sighed. "That doesn't mean we're going to hang you out to dry either though. I mean do you really think I'd be wasting my time training you here if that were the case? And for that matter do you really think Katara would've threatened to turn me into the Masters for participating in illegal arena tournaments?"

"Heh, I guess not," Sokka smiled at her. She may have been a bit rough around the edges, but even then her words were just what he needed to hear. It gave him a strong sense of comfort to realize that he wasn't just a tool to them.

"Alright, let's get going Mutt. I think I've had enough of these heights for a lifetime." With that Toph turned and walked back towards the village center. Sokka followed her with a feeling of reassurance and a genuine smile on his face.